The proposed research is intended to examine the ability of herpes simplex viruses, alone and in combination with chemical carcinogens to function in transformation of the oral mucosa. The studies will concentrate on changes in the cell surface structures and components, particularly alterations in lipids, glycolipids and glycoproteins, that occur in the early time periods following infection. These components are known to affect cell social behavior and tissue differentiation, and change following viral and chemical induced transformation. The mucosal tissues will be grown in vitro and infected with herpes simplex viruses which have been shown to have the ability to transform cells. At varying periods of time following infection, the explanted tissues will be harvested and examined for chemical changes in the cell lipid, glycolipid and glycoprotein components. Neutral lipids and phospholipids will be separated and identified by column, paper and gas chromatography and autoradiography. Glycolipids will be separated by thin layer chromatography. The sugar composition will be determined by gas chromatography, as will the fatty acid profiles of these and the neutral and phospholipids. Glycoprotein determinations will be made by radioactively labeling glycoproteins which will subsequently be separated by acrylamide gel electrophoresis and radioactivity determined. Enhancement of transformation by chemicals will be determined using cultures of epithelial cells infected with virus or treated with virus and a chemical carcinogen. The relative ability of the chemical to increase viral induced transformation will be determined. In addition, it is proposed to attempt to develop a method of culturing epithelial cells using conditioned medium or cell extracts, rather than the feeder layers of irradiated 3T3 fibroblasts. Morphological studies on epithelial tissues will be conducted at an ultrastructural level to supplement the analytic studies. Cultures will be fixed, embedded, and examined for alteration in cell organelles, and numbers and types of intercellular junctions.